


An Encounter With Dead Things.

by theatergirl06



Series: Snapshots of The First Ones. [4]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Araleyn, F/F, aralyn - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24141217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theatergirl06/pseuds/theatergirl06
Summary: When a movie date is derailed by a thunderstorm, a nervous Catherine of Aragon is eager to come up with alternate plans. Perhaps a bit too eager.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine of Aragon
Series: Snapshots of The First Ones. [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701961
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a movie date is derailed by a thunderstorm, a nervous Catherine of Aragon is eager to come up with alternate plans. Perhaps a bit too eager.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Thunder, lightning, darkness, creepiness in general, mentions of horror movies and ghosts.

Catherine of Aragon wasn’t used to anxiety. 

She was generally a pretty calm person. She had a bit of a temper and was rather cross when she was tired or hungry, but generally had a pretty quiet, observant temperament. She wasn’t one to pace and rant like Anne, or sing her feelings out at top volume at Kat, or disappear into her room with slamming doors and clicking keys on a laptop like Cathy.

Which was why she was completely floored when, after a month or so of dating Anne Boleyn, she had absolutely no idea how to deal with her sudden waves of anxiety. 

It wasn’t that Anne wasn’t being incredibly sweet and lovely; she was. That was the thing about dating Anne Boleyn. She was an extrovert. She showered you in affection and fun gestures that you would have  _ never  _ expected. 

But that was exactly the problem. Anne was  _ so  _ vibrant,  _ so  _ fun,  _ so  _ unique, and Aragon just felt that she paled in comparison. She was...well, the fans did call her boring, and she was certainly less loud when compared to Anne.

She wasn’t one for gossip sessions or nail painting, but she still found herself lying on Jane’s bed while she painted her nails gold. Jane was sitting on the opposite side of the room in her big cushy armchair.

Jane’s room was one of everyone’s favorite places to go when they needed soothing. The soft whites, the plants, the air fresheners, all of those things combined just made everything feel so calm. It was the same reason everyone liked Kat’s room. The fairy lights were just...enchanting.

Nonetheless, despite her usual nature, she found herself in Jane’s room, ranting to her best friend and painting her nails while Jane tried to make herself a face mask.

“It’s just...Anne is  _ so  _ amazing. That’s exactly it. I just...I’m the world’s least favorite queen. The  _ boring  _ one. How can I possibly compete with that?”

Jane sighed and put down her face mask, which looked more like some clumps of clay sitting in water. “Love, don’t you think you might just be overreacting a tiny bit? Anne  _ chose  _ to be with you. She must have her reasons for that, even if you can’t always see them.”

Catherine flopped back onto the bed, sticking her hands in the air to keep her nails from smearing. “In my head I know that. It’s just...I can’t really believe it.”

Jane sighed. “Love, don’t you think there might be more at work here than just this? Like maybe some self-esteem issues you might need to think about?”

Catherine groaned. “Yeah, I know this is a problem. But right now I’m focusing on Anne. And I want to be a good girlfriend to her, and I know I can’t do that if I don’t figure out this crap.”

Jane perched on the edge of the chair. “Well, love, I think you’ll work it out eventually. You and Anne have both gone through a lot, and you’ll go through it together. I believe in you both.”

Catherine sighed. “That is exactly what I wanted to hear and exactly what I didn’t want to hear at the same time.”

Jane smiled as she plopped back into the chair. “That probably means I’ve done that right, then. Fifty percent what you want to hear, fifty percent of what you  _ need _ .”

Catherine laughed as Jane bounced onto the bed next to her. “You always were a good friend.”

_ It’ll all work out eventually. Just focus on Anne and being with her. _

That was what Catherine told herself as she got ready for a trip with Anne to the cinema. She shivered as she got into her date outfit. Despite being May, it was an unusually chilly night. Rain poured down the windows of their apartment.

She settled on an oversized, deep yellow sweater with a cowl neckline and gold threading, thrown over black jeans and black boots. Gold hoop earrings completed it. She gave herself one last once over in the mirror. Good enough.

She walked down the hall to the base of the stairs.

Of course, she was instantly floored by Anne. The beheaded queen looked absolutely gorgeous in her green tank top with the high neckline, buttons up the side, flowers embroidered in gold, silver, and darker green, and loose black pants that matched her black heels.

Somehow, despite how fancy her outfit was, it managed to go perfectly with her leather jacket and her messy space buns that sat atop her head.

God, she was gorgeous.

Catherine had to blink twice before stepping all the way into the room. Anne grinned at her from the stairs. Despite her nerves on their first date, since then she seemed so confident and at ease with herself. It made Catherine a bit envious, if she was being perfectly honest. 

“You ready to go see a  _ creepy  _ movie?!”    
Catherine smirked, already feeling more at ease. Anne did have a way of doing that when they were  _ actually  _ together. It was only when she was alone that doubt began to creep in.

“I most definitely do _ not  _ remember agreeing to a scary movie.”

“What other good movies  _ are  _ there?!”

“Every other genre in the universe!”

“Name one other genre that’s actually good!”

“Disney movies?”

“We can’t watch those without Kat and Jane, it’s just wrong!”

“Romances?”

“They’re all cliché and our romance is better!”

“Adventure films?”

“If you’re going to watch stuff like that, you might as well just watch horror movies!”

“Horror movies are  _ really  _ scary! I don’t like them!” Catherine twined her fingers around each other uncomfortably. She couldn’t even be in the same room when Kat and Anna watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer! She didn’t want Anne seeing her scream her head off for an hour at a movie that was _ actually  _ scary.

Anne’s face softened considerably at the sight of her nerves. “Aaw, babe, if you really don’t want to do this, of course we don’t have to. We can watch that new murder mystery everyone’s raving about.”

Catherine felt a smile slide onto her face. “That sounds perfect.”

But life turned very  _ imperfect  _ when they discovered the complete and utter lack of any open movie theaters nearby. 

Anne sighed. “It’s this thunderstorm. Everyone thinks the power’s going to go out.”   
“Maybe it will. We should probably just stay home.”

Anne groaned. “But it’ll be less fun that way!”

At this, Catherine felt a small tingle of an idea in the back of her mind. Fun was  _ exactly  _ what she wanted to be. Maybe this was her chance. 

She pulled out her phone and began typing.

A delicate ping came through the speakers, making her jump a bit, but she smiled at what she read on her screen.

“Hey, Anne.”

“Yeah?”

“There’s a movie theater open right outside of town. It’ll be a bit of a drive, but it could be really fun. What do you think?”

Anne grinned as lightning flashed in the sky. “Now  _ that  _ sounds like my kind of fun.”

Catherine tried to hide her complete elation as she climbed behind the wheel of the car. “All right, I’ll drive, but you’re buying the popcorn.”

“Only if you get extra butter.”

“Are you joking?! That stuff’s got  _ way  _ too much butter on it already!”

“There is no such thing as popcorn with too much butter on it.”

Their chatter became more and more easy and natural as they drove on, further and further into the countryside. 

After a while without seeing any towns, Anne turned to the Spanish queen, looking rather confused. “Shouldn’t we be close by now?”

Catherine peered at the GPS on her cell phone out of the corner of her eye. “We should be there really soon.”

After about ten minutes, according to the GPS, they were indeed there. But there was still a bit of a surprise in store.

The first and second queens stared out the car windows at the enormous, creepy, dark house standing at the top of the long driveway. Lightning crackled in the background. Thunder roared.

Anne spoke first. “This...is exactly the start to every horror movie.”

Catherine checked her GPS again. “This is definitely the right place.”

Anne shrugged. “Well, it’s not a cinema.”

Catherine agreed. She completely and wholeheartedly thought they should get the hell out of the creepy driveway while they still could. 

But she also wanted to be the fun girlfriend Anne deserved. 

This was most definitely her chance.

She tried to keep her tone light and mask her worry as she stepped out of the car. “Come on, why don’t we try going in? Should be really cool. Almost like a haunted mansion.”

Anne fiddled her fingers and looked concerned, though there was also a clear glint of excitement in her eye. “Are you sure? It looks like it might be a bit dangerous.”

Catherine smirked and began walking towards the house. Anne quickly hurried after her.

“This place? Please. It’s nothing more than a cool looking old mansion in the country. What, you think there are ghosts here?”

“You’re a reincarnated sixteenth century queen talking to  _ another  _ reincarnated sixteenth century queen. Stranger things have happened!”

Lightning flashed, and though Catherine could have sworn they’d been at the end of the driveway a moment ago, they were now standing directly outside the door. 

Anne looked up at the huge towers, the cracked windows, the inky darkness of it all.

“Look, Catherine, I’ll think it’s cool if you do this, but…be careful. I’m not going in there, and if I don’t, you shouldn’t.”   
But Catherine had stopped listening at the word “cool.”

She swung the door open with a huge sweep of her arm, pretending not to startle as it creaked. She bounced inside and gave Anne a little wave. “Well then, Boleyn. See you soon.”

After about ten steps into the house, she heard the wooden door slam shut behind her. As fast as she could, she whirled around, racing and pushing on it as hard as she could.

It was no use. It was locked, and wouldn’t even budge.

She pounded on the window and the door until she felt blood on her hands.

“Let me out!” 

All she got in response was thunder.

Discouraged and terrified, she sank to the floor as lightning flashed outside the windows.

She  _ knew  _ there was a reason she hated horror movies.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A painfully horrific house, a thunderstorm, and no way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Blood, pain, burning, corpses, general creepiness, thunderstorms, monsters.

Catherine slammed her fist on the door for what felt like the millionth time. She’d been banging for what felt like years, and all she’d gotten was more and more blood on her hands.

This was literally the start to every single horror movie. Or maybe the end of the long driveway leading to the enormous, creepy house was the start to every single horror movie.

Either way, she was definitely stuck in a horror movie, and she  _ definitely  _ didn’t like it.

A sudden thud behind her made her leap up into the air. She hadn’t realized how used she’d gotten to being alone in the dark, silent mansion. 

She spun around and froze.

What?

How was this even possible?

Henry the Eighth himself was standing in front of her, tall and enormous and terrifying. She instantly put her hand protectively over her stomach, feeling the scars of Henry’s short hunting knife. She remembered everything. 

_ And suddenly she was lying in her bed. It had been comfortable when she’d first arrived, but now it only represented fear and pain. Ever since their first son had died, Henry had found himself all over her body every single night, poking and prodding her like a lab rat. There were bruises up and down her stomach, and they never even went away.  _

_ But after the third miscarriage, Henry had become sure that there was something medically wrong with her. Of course she desperately wanted to please him. They had fallen in love, after all. It had just become so...different. _

_ But she’d never expected it to become this different.  _

_ Now, instead of poking and prodding at her stomach every night, he was slicing, stabbing, and cutting. She started wearing extra thick dresses so that they would soak up all of her blood and it still wouldn’t show. They made her shoulders hunch and her back hurt.  _

_ But every time she thought she’d gotten used to the pain, he cut deeper and deeper. _

_ Like tonight. Tonight he had her squirming body pinned under his arm and he was cutting the deepest he ever had. The pain shot through her entire body, and she felt everything shake and blur and turn red.  _

_ It burned. It burned so much. _

Cold shot through her back, bringing her back to the present. It was dark and cold and her stomach still burned. 

Shaking with pain, she used her arms to push herself up until she was leaning against the wall. Thunder cracked outside.    
But at least Henry was gone. That made her able to breathe a bit more.

Her stomach was still in pain, though, and when she looked down, somehow, she saw blood soaking through her sweater. 

So much for the pretty yellow turtleneck.

But she had to keep moving. It was her only chance at getting out of this place. Maybe she could climb the stairs and jump out a window. There were lots of trees outside, there was a chance she wouldn’t break anything, and anything was better than being trapped inside this haunted house forever.

So, with great difficulty, she pushed herself up to standing and began to walk towards the stairs while leaning on the wall. She wasn’t used to feeling so weak, but she had no choice. 

At last she reached the bottom of the stairs and began to climb, step by step, the pain in her stomach growing greater and greater until she gasped and dropped to her knees. 

She hadn’t crawled since she was dying. This pain was different, but it had still brought her to the ground.

At last she reached the top of the stairs and collapsed fully onto the floor, her entire vision turning red once again. 

She looked up and her eyes filled with tears. 

Her little daughter was standing above her head. The image flickered, and a tall, imposing, inhuman monster stood in her place. It flickered back and it was her daughter again.

Bloody Mary.

Catherine hadn’t been there when her daughter had supposedly murdered 300 people. She didn’t know any of the details. 

She knew she loved her, though. No matter what she did, she always would. 

_ It was the middle of a night. She was standing in a dark field, surrounded by burning stakes and blackened corpses. She’d never been here in her lifetime, but she knew exactly where she was.  _

_ Mary stood in the center of the field, looking tiny and terrified, but with spirit in her eyes.  _

_ She turned and looked at her. “Mommy, I’m scared. What’s going on? Why is there all this fire? And the dead bodies?” _

_ Catherine bent down on her knees and stared the little girl right in the eyes. “Love, I know this is scary, but it’s going to be all right.” _

_ Suddenly, the little girl was gone and the tall, bony, winged monster with flames in her eyes. When she (it?) spoke, the voice was deep and horrifying.  _

_ “Of course it’s not all right, mummy. Because you left me. You left me with him and that monster, and look what I became. I didn’t kill 300 people, mummy. You did.” _

_ Catherine shook on the grass. The flames were suddenly all around her, burning her arms. Mary came even closer, flickering between the terrifying monster and the tiny child she knew so well.  _

_ She leaned right in and scratched a long, pointed fingernail down the side of her face, leaving yet another trail of blood. _

_ Catherine felt tears fill her eyes. How had she let this happen to her daughter.  _

Arms shook her shoulders, causing her to wince in pain because of the burns, but nonetheless pulling her out of her dream. Mary was gone, and the dark room was back to being dark. 

She turned sideways as well as she could without the pain overwhelming her, and was surprised to see Anne perched on the floor next to her. She could tell that she was injured because her right leg was sticking out to the side and bent at an odd angle. 

Catherine groaned, tipping her head back. “Who did you run into?”

Anne sighed, her shoulders hunching a bit more. Catherine wished she could let her lean on her shoulders, but her burns were too painful. 

The beheaded queen let out a small groan. “Had a run in with my uncle. You?”

Catherine tried and failed to soak up some of the blood from her stomach. “Got stabbed by my husband and then torched by a distorted version of my own daughter.” She turned to her girlfriend. “Hey, how did you get in here, anyway?”

Anne groaned. “It was pretty dumb. I noticed you weren’t coming back out, so I used the other door to come in and try to help. The door closed behind me, and...well, here I am.”

Catherine groaned. “That’s less stupid than my just barging in here for no reason. I was trying to be fun for you. Look how that turned out.”

Anne turned and looked straight into her eyes. “Catherine, listen to me. You may not be chaotic or wild, but I love  _ you.  _ I like that you’re smart and kick ass and can talk circles around pretty much everyone we’ve ever met. I love how you look in yellow...without the blood, obviously, and I love the way you make me feel. Like I really  _ mean  _ something. Nobody’s ever made me feel like that before.”

Catherine smiled, then winced in pain as she turned to look at the beheaded queen. “You’re amazing, know that?”

Anne managed a weak smirk. “Oh, I do.”

“All right then. You want to get out of here?”

“Definitely.”

“Well then, let’s go.”

But before she could even move, her vision turned red and she fell sideways onto the floor. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see that Anne had collapsed, too.

She blinked. She blinked again.

There was an Anne Boleyn standing above her. There was an Anne Boleyn lying next to her on the floor. Slowly, Anne got up and stood next to the other Anne. Lights flashed and they were standing next to each other again, in the exact same position.

In unison, their mouths opened and smoke poured out. A voice echoed through the room. It was the same voice that monster Mary had spoken in.

“This is a test. You were all supposed to learn to trust one another when you came back. But have you?”

Catherine gulped and pushed herself up until she was standing and leaning against the wall. Despite her naturally taller stature, both of the Annes were still taller than her.

“One of these girls is your girlfriend. She’s in immense pain, and she will be forever if you get this wrong. The other one is a hallucination. You get one guess before ten minutes have passed or…” Lightning crackled outside, and both Annes, to Catherine’s horror, began to bleed at the neck, red droplets spilling onto the floor. 

Catherine stared at them both, frozen in fear. This house played on her greatest fears, she knew that. Not being able to save those she loved was at the top of that list.

They really did look exactly identical. 

She looked closer.

And then she saw it.

The voice had said that Anne was in pain.   
While both Annes wore outwardly neutral expressions, one Anne had a glint deep in her eye. A glint only those who knew her best would recognize. It was a glint of pain and fear and love all at once.

It was undoubtedly something only Anne could create.

Catherine stared her right in the eye. She tried to ignore the blood pouring out of her neck.

“It’s you.”

Lightning flashed. Smoke swirled around the room, leaving only one Anne behind, tears pouring down her face. She fell to the floor, but Catherine dropped down and wrapped her in her arms before she hit the ground. There was a hole in the ceiling and rain was pouring in, numbing her burnt arms so that she could wrap her arms around her girlfriend as she breathed deeply, feeling her pain slowly recede.

After ten minutes or so, Anne pulled back, her face glistening with tears.    
“You knew it was me.”

Catherine squeezed her girlfriend’s hand gently. “Of course I did.”

“But...how?”

“Because I know you.”

Anne bit her lip. “But...I’m your worst nightmare.”

Catherine reeled back a bit in surprise. “What? No you’re not!”

“But that’s what this house does. It shows you the people who give you the most pain.”

Catherine felt tears streaming down her own face as she grasped Anne’s shoulders. “Anne, my greatest fear is not being able to save the people I love.”

“But…”

“After everything we’ve been through, you still don’t think that I love you?”

Anne smiled through her tears. “I  _ know _ you love me. You show me every day. And I love you too.”

And then her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out in Catherine’s arms.

As tightly as she could, Catherine wrapped her left arm around Anne and squeezed. As best as she could with only one arm, she climbed out the window and down the side of the house, breathing a sigh of relief when she touched the ground.

Thunder rumbled.

She scooped Anne up in both her arms and bolted away from that house as fast as she could. She got in the car, buckled them in and began to drive at a rapid pace. 

Just as Anne began to stir in the seat next to her, she turned to take one last glance at the terrifying house.

There was nothing there. Just a hill and some dead trees swaying in the storm. 


End file.
